Cricket 1908

4 4 2 C R IC K E T : A W EEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. O c t . 29, 1908. is very famous, though it is more renowned for its emeralds than for its pearls. E n g lis h cricketers will be pleased to hear that Capt. Greig, who has made so many good scores in his time for Hamp­ shire, has recently been distinguishing himself in Indian cricket. Playing in Bombay for Presidency v. Parsees, in the middle o f last month, he scored 39 in his first innings and 115 in his second, clearly carrying off the honours o f the game. The Bombay Gazette, in a summary of the play, remarked :— Captain Greig, who had on Friday made 83 not out, was able to reach his individual century 011 Saturday. Greig has many a time before this knocked up centuries against the Parsees ; but more times he has just missed reaching the coveted three figures like the Parsee skipper who, too, has many a time proved unlucky in that respect. Excitement therefore ran high as on Saturday Greig gradually approached the century, and it was simply tremen­ dous when he was short of his century by only a single. The crowd began cheering by way of antici­ pation. This Captain Greig did not seem to like, and so he stopped playing. The crowd cheered the more vociferously ; Greig then put up his hand to the crowd to desist ; the Parsee captain did the sam e; and the crowd then stopped cheering for a time. But a minute later the Maidan rang out with much greater cheering on Greig scoring a single off K. B. Mistry and reaching his individual century. The Madras Times, commenting upon the same incident, said:— The crowd was packed in thousands round the ground and contained a far greater proportion of Parsees, who, by their subdued demeanour, showed they knew the match was going from them ; but when Greig’s century was signalled they rose to their feet to a man and cheered frantically for several minutes, waving handkerchiefs and tossing up their hats. I n the following week Capt. Greig, in the match against the Hindus, made the highest score in each innings, his contri­ butions to totals of 207 and 124 being 52 and 38. H is fine batting, in fact, was chiefly responsible for the success of the Presidency in their matches against the Parsees and Hindus. I n matches between the Presidency and the Parsees Capt. Greig has played thirty innings, three o f which have been unfinished, and, with 184 as his highest score, has made 1,332 runs with an average o f 49'33. H is first appearance in the series o f matches dates back to 1893. It was in 1907 that the Triangular con ­ test in Bombay between the Presidency, Parsees, and Hindus was inaugurated. The first match was between the two last-named, and the Parsees, after winning by eight wickets, met and defeated the Presidency by 143 runs. This year the Parsees, who had beaten the Presidency by 142 runs at Poona, were regarded as the probable winners, but, as the scores given on another page show, the honours were carried off by the Presidency, who beat the Parsees by 176 runs and the Hindus by 119. I n a recent match at Madras between Madras United and Friends Eleven, the following teams took the field :— M adras U n ited B. Subramanyan, W. Kulase- karam, M. Ethirajuloo, H. Singarababoo, S. V. Chetty, P. D. Krishnassawmy, Ragavuloo, C. R. Ganapathy, Swiminatha Mudoly, Sundarababoo, and Parthasarathy. F rien d s E le v e n :—Satchudananthum, Joyago- paul, Kanagarathnum, Gopalsawmy, Murugasan, Ekambavam, Rungasawmy, Venkatachalum, Ruth- nasabapathy, Natarajan, and Chellapillai. Now we know. E. C. R eid (84) and F. P. West (47) scored 100 together in 45 minutes for Bombay Gymkhana v. Grant Medical College on the former’s ground on Sep­ tember 12th. In all, their partnership for the first wicket realised 147. P la y in g for Royal Canadian Mounted Rifles v. W innipeg A., at Winnipeg, on September 5th, Sergt. H. C. Edwards took the whole of the ten wickets for 32 runs. The total o f the innings was 47. Eight o f the wickets were bowled down and one l.b.w. A t half-past two o ’clock in the morning o f September 9th, the pavilion o f the Philadelphia C.C. were destroyed by fire. Thomas McHenry, a waiter, was burned to death in his bed, and two women em ­ ployed by the Club escaped by throwing themselves from an upstairs window. An estimate of the loss places it at over £5,000. A t the Annual Meeting o f the Queens­ land Cricket Association in Brisbane it was unanimously resolved— “ That in the opinion of the Q.C.A. it is desirable, in the best interests o f cricket, that the Aus­ tralian team of cricketers to visit Great Britain during the year 1909 should be controlled and financed by the Board of Control for International Cricket in Australia.” T h e New South Wales Cricket Associa­ tion have elected Messrs. G. P. Barbour, E. Hume, and F. A. Iredale to the selection committee for 1908-9. It will seem strange to most cricketers that M. A. Noble was tno elected to serve on this Committee, for he was the only other candidate. A t the Sydney Grammar School Sports, at the Sydney ground on September 4th, J. C. Lamrock threw the cricket ball 118 yards 1 foot, and R . M. Bull 105 yards. The former is the biggest throw ever made for the School by one of the boys, but the New South Wales All-Schools’ Record, says the Sydney R eferee, is a few inches better, viz., 118 yards 1 .} ft,, by A. H. Brown, of the NewiDgton College, who subsequently played for Burwood Dis­ trict. A t a meeting of the Cricket Committee of the South Australian Cricket Associa­ tion,it was decided to support the resolution declaring the following matches first-class: — International, all matches between English (or other representative teams) and inter-State teams, all inter-State matches and matches against New Zea­ land, and matches between Australia and Rest of Australia. The meeting dis­ approved o f matches between North and South of Tasmania and the first and next elevens o f States competing for the Shef­ field Shield ranking as first-class. It has since been decided by the Associations concerned that all inter-State matches shall rank as first-class. “ N o t O u t ” of the Sydney Referee, in commenting upon the decision of the South Africans not to accept the invitation to visit Australia during 1908-9, made the following interesting remarks :— Therefore the cricket season of 1008-9 will be purely Australian. This is probably good for ci’icket in Australia. There are problems to solve and players to develop in connection with the next visit to England, and these matters would be neither simplified nor assisted by the presence of a “ foreign” team in the country. The Board of Control has to deal with a delicate matter in the financial side of the next Australian team for England. In doing so it is faced with a duty to cricket that has been far too long deferred. It is a duty which calls for tact, broad-mindedness, moral courage, and determination. One has no doubt that if handled with delicacy and firmness the question may be solved satisfactorily, both to the game and to the players. The Board of Control has so far done splendid work for Australian cricket. And it possesses the power, and I believe the ability, to go on and put the whole fabric upon a new, permanent, artd highly satisfactory basis. These views coincide with those expressed by Mr. McElhone in the “ Chat” which appears on the front page o f the present issue of Cricket. A t the Annual Meeting of the Adelaide Club the members conferred upon George Giffen the honour of life membership, the first in the history o f the Club. Last year an effort was made to elect him to the position, but reference to the rules disclosed the fact that no provision had been made for life members. The defect, however, was remedied with the result stated. Grateful reference was made to the fact that Giffen attends the nets regularly, and gives tho juniors much valuable practice and advice. Mr. G e o . M. C o ll e d g e , who has been Hon. Secretary o f the Queensland C .A . for some years, and who was largely responsible in bringing it into line with the Board of Control movement, has retired from office. His services to the game are to be recognised by a testi­ monial. He will be succeeded by Mr. S. C. Whittred, who has been Assistant- Secretary for some few seasons. I n tho Annual Report of the New South Wales Cricket Association for 1907-1908 the following reference is made to the visit of the English team to Australia last w inter:— “ The visit o f the Mary­ lebone English X I. under the auspices of the Australian Board of Control and the captaincy of Mr. A. O. Jones, was the feature of this year’s cricket in New South Wales. The team did not repre­ sent the full strength of English cricket; indeed, there were none o f the star batsmen included, which was to be re­ gretted inasmuch as the cricket-loving public had been looking forward to seeing some of the best English batsmen on our fast wickets . . . The guarantee o f ±'10,000 to the Marylebone Club for this team was considered altogether too great, especially when such a weak team was sent. It was impossible to make up the amount out of the 50 per cent, of the gate receipts allowed to the Marylebone Club, and a sum of ±'1,040 had to be contributed as